Electrical connectors are configured to transfer electrical signals between complementary electrical components. For instance, an electrical connector can be mounted to a first complementary electrical component, and mated to a second complementary electrical component so as to place the first and second complementary components in electrical communication with each other. The electrical connector can include a dielectric or electrically insulative connector housing and electrical conductors supported by the connector housing. For instance, the electrical conductors can include signal conductors and ground conductors that are disposed between respective ones, pairs, or other quantities, of the signal conductors. The signal conductors can carry data signals, optical signals, or the like between the first and second complementary electrical components. The electrical conductors of some types of electrical connector can further include electrical power conductors that are configured to transmit electrical power between the first and second complementary electrical components.
Certain electrical connectors include at least one substrate, which can be configured as a printed circuit board, that includes the electrical conductors. Such printed circuit boards can also be referred to as paddle cards. For instance, the electrical conductors can be configured as electrical traces that are disposed on an exterior surface of the substrate, disposed in an interior layer of the substrate, or can have a portion that is disposed on the exterior surface and a portion that is disposed in an interior layer of the substrate. Certain electrical connectors can include one substrate, and other electrical connectors can include first and second substrates, thought it should be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited to the number of substrates of the electrical connector. The electrical connector can be configured to be mounted to at least one cable so as to place the at least one cable in in electrical communication with the at least one substrate. Thus, the first complementary electrical component can be configured as at least one cable, which can be configured to transfer electrical data, optical signals, or electrical power. The electrical connector is further configured to mate to a receptacle connector that includes at least one receptacle configured to receive the mating end of a respective one of the at least one substrate, thereby establishing an electrical connection with the electrical conductors of the substrate. Thus, the second complementary electrical component can be configured as an electrical connector, such as a transceiver.
Examples of such electrical connectors include serial attached small computer system interface (“SAS”) connectors and its variants, such as mini-SAS and mini-SAS HD connectors. Accordingly, reference herein to SAS connectors is intended to refer to all such SAS connectors and their variants, including but not limited to mini-SAS and mini-SAS HD, unless otherwise indicated, and all other electrical connectors that are configured to receive at least one paddle card.
Referring now to FIGS. 1A-1C, a conventional substrate 20 of a SAS connector includes a first surface 22 and a second surface 24 opposite the first surface 22 with respect to a transverse direction T. The substrate 20 is configured as a printed circuit board, and in particular as a paddle card for a SAS connector. It is appreciated that SAS connectors can be configured for use with a pair of paddle cards that are each conventionally configured as illustrated and described herein in connection with the substrate 20. The SAS connector including substrates 20 can be configured as set forth in SFF-8643 Rev 3.4 dated May 25, 2014, SFF-8644 Rev 3.3 dated Aug. 4, 2014, and SFF-8662 Rev. 2.7 dated Jul. 24, 2014, the disclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety herein.
The conventional substrate 20 includes a first plurality of electrical contacts carried by the first surface 22, and are configured as contact pads 26 that are configured to mate with the SAS connector. The first plurality of electrical contact pads 26 can be spaced from each other along a lateral direction A that is substantially perpendicular to the transverse direction T. Similarly, the conventional substrate includes a second plurality of electrical contacts carried by the second surface 24, and are configured as contact pads 28 that are configured to mate with the SAS connector. The electrical contacts of the second plurality of electrical contact pads 28 can be spaced from each other along the lateral direction A. In particular, the substrate 20 is received by the SAS connector such that electrical contacts of the SAS connector mate with respective ones of the first and second pluralities of electrical contact pads 26 and 28.
Each of the first and second pluralities of electrical contact pads 26 and 28 includes respective signal contact pads 29 and ground contact pads 30. The signal contact pads 29 and ground contact pads 30 are elongate along a longitudinal direction L that is perpendicular to both the transverse direction T and the lateral direction A. Adjacent ones of the signal contact pads 29 with respect to the lateral direction A are arranged in pairs 32. The pairs 32 define differential signal pairs. It is recognized that the signal contact pads 29 can be alternatively be single ended. The substrate 20 includes a ground contact pad 30 disposed between respective ones of the signal contact pads 29 with respect to the lateral direction A. For instance, as illustrated, a ground contact pad 30 is carried by each of the first and second surfaces 22 and 24 at a location between adjacent ones of the pairs 32 with respect to the lateral direction A. The lateral direction A is also referred to herein as a row direction. Each of the signal contact pads 29 carried by the first surface 22 is aligned with a respective one of the signal contact pads 29 carried by the second surface 24 along the transverse direction T. Similarly, each of the signal contact pads 29 carried by the second surface 24 is aligned with a respective one of the signal contact pads 29 carried by the first surface 22 along the transverse direction T. Further, each of the ground contact pads 30 carried by the first surface 22 is aligned with a respective one of the ground contact pads 30 carried by the second surface 24 along the transverse direction T. Similarly, each of the ground contact pads 30 carried by the second surface 24 is aligned with a respective one of the ground contact pads 30 carried by the first surface 22 along the transverse direction T.
The substrate 20 further includes lead-in contact pads 34 that are carried by one or both of the first and second surfaces 22 and 24. Each of the lead-in contact pads 34 is aligned with a respective one of the signal contact pads 29 along the longitudinal direction L. Further, each of the lead-in contact pads 34 is spaced from the respective one of the signal contact pads 29 along the longitudinal direction L so as to define a gap therebetween. In particular, each of the lead-in contact pads 34 is spaced from the respective one of the signal contact pads 29 in a forward direction that is along the longitudinal direction L. In this regard, the substrate 20 defines a front end 36a and a rear end 36b that is spaced from the front end 36a along the longitudinal direction L. The front end 36a is spaced from the rear end 36b in the forward direction. Similarly, the rear end 36b is spaced from the front end 36a in a rearward direction that is opposite the forward direction. The forward and rearward directions are each oriented along the longitudinal direction L. During operation, the front end 36a of the substrate 20 is received in the receptacle of the SAS connector by way of movement of the substrate 20 in the forward direction with respect to the SAS connector.
Accordingly, the front end 36a of the substrate 20 can be referred to as a leading end of the substrate 20, and the rear end of the substrate 20 can be referred to as a trailing end. Similarly, each of the first plurality of contact pads 26 includes a trailing edge and a leading edge that is spaced from the trailing edge in the forward direction. For instance, each of the signal contact pads 29 includes a trailing edge 29a and a leading edge 29b spaced from the trailing edge 29a in the forward direction. Similarly, each of the lead-in contact pads 34 includes a trailing edge 34a and a leading edge 34b spaced from the trailing edge 34a in the forward direction. Each of the ground contact pads 30 includes a trailing edge 30a and a leading edge 30b spaced from the trailing edge 30a in the forward direction. The trailing edge 34a of each of the lead-in contact pads 34 is spaced from the leading edge 29b of the aligned one of the signal contact pads 29 along the longitudinal direction L. The lead-in contact pads 34 are electrically conductive, and can be made from the same or different material with respect to the signal contact pads 29.
In conventional Mini-SAS HD connectors, each of the signal contact pads 29 of the substrates 20 defines a signal contact pad length L1 from the trailing edge 29a to the leading edge 29b along the longitudinal direction L. The signal contact pad length L1 is approximately 1.85 mm. The term “approximately” is used herein with respect to dimensional information to indicate potential variations due to manufacturing tolerances or rounding. Further, the leading edge 29b of each of the signal contact pads 29 is spaced from the front end 36a of the substrate 20 a distance D1 along the longitudinal direction L. Further still, the leading edge 29b of each of the signal contact pads 29 is spaced from the rear end 36b of the substrate 20 a distance D2 along the longitudinal direction L. Each of the lead-in contact pads 34 defines a lead-in contact pad length L2 measured from the trailing edge 34a to the leading edge 34b along the longitudinal direction L. The trailing edge 34a of each of the lead-in contact pads 34 is spaced from the leading edge 29b of the respective aligned one of the signal contact pads 29 a distance D3 along the longitudinal direction L. That is, the gap that separates the lead-in contact pads 34 from the aligned ones of the signal contact pads 29 defines the distance D3 along the longitudinal direction L.
The signal contact pads 29 further define a contact location 38 between the trailing edge 29a and the leading edge 29b. In particular, as the substrate 20 is received in the receptacle of the second complementary electrical component, signal contacts of the second complementary electrical component can wipe along the lead-in contact pads 34 before being brought into physical and electrical contact with the signal contact pads 29 at the contact location 38. When the electrical connector is fully mated with the second complementary electrical component, the substrate 20 is fully seated in the receptacle of the second complementary electrical component. When the substrate 20 is fully seated in the receptacle of the second complementary electrical component, the signal contacts of the complementary electrical component are in physical contact with the signal contact pads 29 at the contact location 38. The contact location 38 is spaced a distance D4 from the front end 36a of the substrate 20 along the longitudinal direction L. The contact location 38 is spaced a distance D5 from the rear end 36b of the substrate 20 along the longitudinal direction L. Further, in conventional Mini-SAS HD connectors, the contact location 38 is spaced from the leading edge 29b of the signal contact pads 29 along the longitudinal direction L a distance D6 of approximately 1.75 mm. Thus, the contact location 38 is spaced from the trailing edge 29a of the signal contacts along the longitudinal direction a distance of approximately 0.1 mm. The lengths L1-L2 and distances D1-D6, as described herein, apply to both the first and second surfaces 22 and 24 of the substrate 20.